Were you about to make a pie for this weekend? Stop. I think you should join me in abandoning Team Pie for Team Galette; you won’t regret it. It’s not like we haven’t had our share of exceptional vegetable galettes, but save a nectarine version in the archives and a cherry-almond riff in the book, I usually defaulted to pie when it came to fruit, round, slabbed or cookie-ed. But last week, when we had an excess of blueberries on our hand because someone (cough) cannot control herself when anything first graces the Greenmarkets, it all felt like so much work — all of that dough, sugar, crimping and weaving and trimming, baking time, plus I have no idea where my pie dishes are, they’re probably being used as a play-doh receptacle somewhere. A galette would never do this to you.

Galettes are your friend. Requiring less of everything, they come together in all of 15 minutes and take 30 to bake, which means you can totally wait until the last minute to make one, as you were going to anyway. They don’t care if you make them round or square — whatever shape the dough stretches out into will do. But that doesn’t mean someone (cough) didn’t get carried away trying to put a July 4th spin on hers.

I won’t lie: it was kinda fun, as should be expected when your day “job” requires you bust out the craft supplies (scissors, paper and an notebook to doodle in) to figure out how to fold a flat shape into a fruit vessel of a star. [Spoiler: A pentagon does the trick.] Working well outside my graphic design comfort zone (I peaked in Microsoft Paint), I attempted to make a template that will walk you through the same, although your dough will allow you to make a galette much larger than can be printed on a sheet of office paper.

What you put inside is up to you. I doubled the recipe (which yields one) to make a blue one with blueberries (though blackberries would be wonderful here too) and a red one with a mix of raspberries and cherries (strawberries and currants would be excellent). If you’re going for the whole patriotic look, you could make a white one with peeled white peaches and apples or pears, or white raspberries or cherries if you can get them. Or you could just top your red and blue berry galettes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Which is what we did. As if you ever had to ask.

Yield: 1 7.5 to 8-inch galette, double or triple to make additional flavors

I added some ricotta to the dough, which gave a nice subtle flavor, but you could replace that easily with yogurt or sour cream. Leakage is almost inevitable when making galettes but you shouldn’t sweat it because I’m convinced that it’s more distressing for the baker (who knows exactly how much jammy deliciousness has been lost) than anyone eating a wedge (it will taste like nothing is missing at all). Let it gooooo, I say, as all the preschoolers sing.

Here’s the PDF template I made to help you form a star shape, if desired. As should be abundantly evident, I’m no graphic designer, but it will hopefully give you a start.

Make dough: Whisk the flour, salt, sugar and zest together in the bottom of a large bowl. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles a coarse meal and the largest bits of butter are the size of tiny peas. Stir ricotta and 3 tablespoons water together in a small dish and pour into butter-flour mixture. Stir together with a flexible spatula as best as you can, then use your hands to knead the mixture into a rough, craggy ball. Wrap in plastic and flatten into a disc. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or up to 48 hours, or you can quick-firm this in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Assemble galette: Heat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a large round-ish shape, about 14 to 15 inches across.

[If you’d like to form yours into a star, as shown, use the red dashed outline of this template [PDF]. It will print smaller on an 8.5×11-inch piece of paper than you need, but you can use it as a rough guide to cut as large of a pentagon shape as your dough will allow.]

Transfer round or pentagon-shaped dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet; I like to fold my dough gently, without creasing, in quarters then unfold it onto the baking pan. [If you’re making a star, cut a 1-inch notch in the center of each side, angling it toward the center, as shown in the blue dashed lines of the template.]

Stir together all of the filling ingredients and spread them in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. If you’re making a round galette, fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. [If you’re making a star shape, fold each of the 5 corners into the center, along the green dotted lines of the template. Pinch the outer corners closed, to seal in the filling and the shape.]

Whisk egg yolk and water together and brush over exposed crust. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake galette: For 30 minutes, or golden all over. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature, preferably with vanilla ice cream. [My favorite vanilla ice cream recipe is used here.]

My eyes *may* have bulged open as soon as this page loaded. What gorgeous galettes, Deb! The wild raspberries on our street are coming in, and now I know exactly what I’m going to do with some of them. Vanilla ice cream on top is a must :)

Deb, now I’m torn! I was all set to make the flag cake again (it was a hit last year), but these galettes look too, too adorable. Is it possible to have too much patriotic dessert this weekend? (My guess: no.)

Get out of my head! :) I was just thinking about making berry galettes with the batch of ricotta I messed up this week (too dry). And since the 4th looks like a rainout here in the NE (boo!), I’d say it’s a perfect day for making and eating all the galettes!

I just saw a ridiculous price on Ranier cherries — $4.99 a pound (yeow!) — and decided to check around to see what flag has yellow stars. It looks like Nevada and Rhode Island and a few places I don’t even know how to pronounce would work with the Raniers. Of course, I doubt I’ll actually use the template and just steal the ricotta dough. The perfect Pepin one I used earlier this week for a zucchini and fresh ricotta galette was too buttery, if that can be possible. Have a happy fourth, Deb. Hope you have something fun planned. (I mean, besides eating these adorable pastries.)

If needed for the patriotic look, white whipped cream, would be tasty…that is if you are traveling and can not bring the ice cream. Such a great idea…folding the pastry to look like a star topped galette. Happy Independence Day to all!

Deb – these look lovely, as everything does on this site. I would love to make these for our Fourth celebration, but was wondering if you have a suggestion for a dairy free version of the crust (needs to be egg free also, food allergies.)

Deb, do you think these would last well if I wrapped them and kept them chilled? I’m camping this weekend and would love to be a superstar and pull these out of my cooler the first night (and maybe warm them on the campfire? Too crazy?)!

Hah, just thinking that if you wanted to do a vegetable galette instead you could do one with tomatoes and/or red pepper, a second with eggplant or purple potatoes, and a third with some vegetable (asparagus with caramelized onions?) under a tasty layer of white cheese. Of course, I am all in favor of the sweet version with fruit that you have done so well. Thanks!

Katie — You can keep galettes at room temperature or in the fridge (as I do, so they’ll last longer), so yes, cold is fine. I am sure you can toast up a slice on the fire, something that sounds so good it might make me reconsider my camping aversion.

Jen — You could use shortening, margarine and/or coconut oil (solidified) in the crust, and instead of using ricotta and water, use just 1/4 cup cold water. That will make is more like my basic pie dough. The egg wash is just for gloss and you can skip it.

Oh, so lovely. I’m always -about- to make a pie and then a gallette wins. Doesn’t it feel more crowd-friendly? You don’t have to worry about people pulling slices from a deep dish. I was wondering if you ever tried using a bit of cornmeal in this dough (maybe for the 1/4 c)? I have some from the U Sq. market that is fabulous. Thanks!

This is SO neat!! I started making galettes a few years back (with your nectarine recipe, actually!), and am always so pleased with how simple they are to make. I never thought to make a specific shape with the opening, though – this is hands down my favorite Fourth of July themed dessert I’ve seen this year!!

These look great Deb! I thought maybe everyone would like to have their own little star :) Do you think I could make smaller handheld ones (like your hand-pies in size), or would it be better to make big ones and cut into wedges? Thanks and Happy 4th of July! :)

These look amazing! I am tempted to forgo my usual July 4th dessert for this instead, but don’t know. I usually make a red, white & blueberry trifle that’s been pretty popular. Bonus; if I make the cake ahead all I need to do is assembly on the day of. Maybe I’ll have to do both!

Well, bless your sweet heart! My busy little mind was going in the same direction just a few days ago. I am chronically ill (Lyme Disease) and am inundated with black raspberries right now. They just keep coming, and coming, and coming. . . . (Wish I could send you some!) I was so wanting to make a pie, but so little time, so little energy; and then, and then, here comes the complete instructions for just the freeform-crusted thing my mind was conjuring up! You are the quintessential Fourth of July girl–you gave me “freedom from pies”!

Would this work made in a pie dish instead of on a cookie sheet? I have a beautiful red Emile Henry pie dish that is just so All-American and I think the blueberry one would look great in this. Would it cook the crust right or end up doughy?

:( I totally expected the filling to have ricotta… not just the pastry, so thank you for including your vegetable/zucchini version! I’m going to morph that veggie recipe into a berry version with sweetened ricotta vs. my usual almond filling base. Love this.

Deb – Do you think substituting tapioca for the cornstarch would work here? I love how the tapioca works in your strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe and am wondering if it would work well for the galette — or perhaps you’ve used cornstarch for a specific reason…? In any event, I can’t wait to try this recipe!

Deb, I didn’t see an answer to the “would frozen berries work?” comment. I too, have some frozen blueberries from last year. Do you think I’d need to adjust anything (cook filling a little beforehand?). These look perfect for the 4th!

Well, I am going to have to talk Husband down off the pie ledge… he’s determined to make not one but TWO pies tomorrow. Maybe I can sell him on these instead because they are gorgeous! Happy Fourth, Smitteners!

Speaking of which, a picture of your Nectarine Galette was the headliner in our food section of the newspaper yesterday, along with a mention of your website with 800+ recipes in your index. The recipe was included.

I found a bag of really great smelling nectarines last night…just found your nectarine galette recipe today. That’s what’s for breakfast tomorrow morning…yea!!! Sit outside, enjoy the galette, drink coffee with a little booze in it, and light smoke bombs for entertainment…all the fun of fireworks, without the noise, so the dogs won’t get jumpy (yes, we live in the country, and we’ve had lots of rain recently, so it’s ok). Have a great weekend!!

Just made these today; they look and taste amazing!
My berries were extra juicy so I added a layer of ground almonds in the galette before adding the berries and it sopped up the extra juice perfectly. The crust wasn’t soggy at all.
Thank you Deb!

Just made two of these, they tasted good, but were more ‘rustic’ looking. One was made with frozen blueberries with grated orange in the pastry (…thought I had a lemon but didn’t). The blueberries had been in the freezer a while and had little ‘ice crowns’ which I broke off before using in case it made it too watery. The other was frozen strawberry and raspberry, with half whole wheat flour and grated lime. I followed the berry instructions but used 2T lemon juice since I didn’t have a lemon. The red berry one was infinitely more runny than the blue one and could have used a couple more minutes in the oven, as it was a little doughy where the pastry crossed over (maybe shouldn’t have used 1/2 whole wheat flour…). I’m miserable at rolling pastry so rolled it on parchment so I wouldn’t have to scrape it off the counter to get it on the baking sheet (so glad I used a rimmed one!). I also put the plastic wrap over the dough as I rolled it, which helped it not stick to the pin…

I just made minis of these. I doubled the dough recipe, swapping the ricotta for a sour cream and egg mixture (I thought this would help with pliability–it did) and separated it into eight rounds. I printed the template at half size, and was able to cut two hexagons from each round after rolling out. I made one recipe of blueberry filling and one of strawberry, and filled half the little guys with blueberry, half with strawberry, about a soup spoon of filling in each. I had minimal leakage, but a lot of extra filling, so I would maybe make just 1.5 recipe of filling in the future. They’re super cute and perfect as hand-pies!

Just made this last night. Just like CS said above, mine came out more “rustic” – read “less perfect.” I was still happy with the results and would definitely give this another shot now that I know the ropes a bit.

I am a total galette cheerleader myself! I have often joked that my favorite thing about making a pie is making a galette with the leftover crust. My go-to is sliced pears on a bed of ricotta with a touch of brown sugar, ginger and vanilla.

Just made these – I don’t think the little one-inch slice in the center of each side of the pentagon is necessary, and may contribute a bit to leakage.
I used the leftover pieces of pastry to make a pastry sun, because it is raining nonstop here in Boston!

I made this! And as a point of reference, I am impossibly, sadly hopeless at pies, cake and even cupcakes. But this? This was fabulous. I only had Rainier cherries and cream cheese and still created a great dessert. In fact, there was no leaking; not exactly sure why, but who cares, right? The dough is fabulous, so wonderfully buttery, and now I’m eying all the fruit in my kitchen because surely apples, plums and/or blueberries could grace our neighbor’s birthday table tomorrow. Thank you!

I made this with strawberries and raspberries and screwed up several steps, so in the unlikely event that someone who didn’t read the recipe carefully (like me) is reading the comments, I offer the following notes. It wasn’t completely clear to me that the filling wasn’t to be mixed until after the pastry was rolled out, so I mixed mine before and that made the filling watery when I put it in the pastry, which I think contributed to an underdone crust. In addition, it is very important to transfer the pastry to the parchment paper BEFORE you add the filling, because adding the filling and folding it and then moving it to the parchment is something of a disaster. Hence mine did not look nearly as nice as the ones in the photos, which was not the recipe’s fault. Also, your pentagon needs to have sides that are all the same length or your star will not look right.

Holy COW! This works! And I don’t just mean it works. I mean it is amazingly awesome and delicious, and my NINE year old just made it and it works! Good grief! In fact, I felt so guilty for polishing off the leftovers for my own personal selfish breakfast that I made more this morning, just to soothe my conscience.

Oh, and thought I should mention this tidbit, too. We made two of these, one in the star shape, which turned out beautiful, and one in a tart pan because I did not believe it would work. Sorry. The one I put in the tart pan seemed low on filling, and since it had the extra support on the sides, I decided to double the filling. This worked out very well,and would not have held if it had not had the extra sides. The star shape tart was perfectly suited to the amount of filling called for in the recipe.

Made these last night after fireworks for a very-ready-for-dessert wife. Just the two of us, but I doubled and made the both anyway. After all, I had both red and blue fruits on hand… and, and I wouldn’t want to combine them, would I? Yes, that’s it. (slight combination of fruits may still have occurred, but shh)

Nice decorative touch, I’d probably have skipped right over this if it weren’t for the stars angle (no pun intended). Instead I’ll have one very content household on my hands for days!

I made this last night and it’s the first time I’ve made something with homemade crust that I would serve to friends. I’ve been on a rhubarb kick lately so I used rhubarb strawberries, blackberries and blueberries and it came out perfect. Thanks for the recipe!

After reading someone post about making your nectarine galette I had to try one since I had four lovely nectarines sitting on my counter. I put my marble rolling pin in the freezer while the dough was chilling in the fridge. The rolling pin sweat some when it came out of the freezer but that only made the flour stick to it better. I used my lefse pastry board and everything worked really well. Nothing, and I mean nothing stuck, tore or had to be rerolled. I used the pastry recipe with the nectarine galette instead of the ricotta one here but would never have tried either had I not been reading all the comments. Thanks again for another successful recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

I made this on the 4th between the parade and the kick-off of evening festivities, took it to a friend who just had joint surgery, and back home to settle down the puppy from fireworks! I used home grown blueberries and meyer lemon. Needless to say, I did not take time to chill anything, and it worked out fine! My friend asked for the recipe. Thanks for this easy and beautiful recipe.

Ethel — Glad you enjoyed. The notch in the side creates an overlap for the outer corners that helps hold the filling in. Without it, the corners would be at the same level as the tray and all of the filling would rush out.

Karen — Oh, hi Karen! I personally prefer using a pastry blender because it feels easier to me (I make the dough and the filling in a single bowl, rather than busting out the FP, which, not that I’ve counted or anything, but has FIVE parts to wash) and because it’s very easy to over-blend the butter in a machine. If I do use a FP for this, I only use it to break up the butter; if you get the pieces to a good size and then blend in the liquid(s), the pieces end up overblended. So, I’d use it for the butter step, turn the flour-butter mixture out into a bowl and mix in the liquid(s), and that just doesn’t feel worth dirtying those extra dishes for.

curiosity — Not only were cherries and rasberries, we’ve since decided that they might be our new favorite baked summer fruit combination, we love the way they played off each other. In short: the red galette was gone long before the blue!

Jennifer — I think it will be! From what I’ve seen in photos tagged on Instagram and social media for me, the trick is definitely to make sure all of the points that you fold in are folded toward an imaginary point in the center, i.e. it’s the angle of the points that forms the star.

Frozen berries — Whoops, missed the question. I think they’d work. Try to drain them off a bit if they’re defrosted. That said, I think you can mix it up while they’re still frozen, you’ll just need a few extra minutes baking time.

I made the cherry for the holiday. So good! I used the sour cream in the crust and didn’t use the water at all. (I have a similar recipe for a sour cream crust and it only uses 2 Tbsp’s of sour cream and no water and is my go-to for all custard pies.) I loved the cut-out that formed the star. You made this the perfect non-gaudy dessert for July 4! Thanks!

I made these for a pre-fireworks potluck and they were almost as pretty as yours! Thank you for the recipe and the inspiration. I made two smaller blueberry galettes and one larger strawberry rhubarb galette. People oohed and aahed!

holy, is this ever an impressive looking treat! i made one with fresh blueberries and one with jarred sour cherries and fresh red currents. however, as an inexperienced baker of pies and pastries, i completely forgot that over-kneading or over-rolling dough is a very. bad. thing. i was so determined to get the shape of dough right that i didn’t even think of how that was toughening up the pastry. that being said, it was still quite tasty and well-received! so tip to those not familiar with pastry – don’t overwork the dough!

I love pie, but I think I am going to move from team pie to team galettes. These are prime example. Anything with fruit gets my attention as well as anything with ricotta. You had me with the mere title.

I made both kinds for my July 4th party this weekend. They came out wonderfully! I don’t bake often, but the galettes were very easy. I did add an extra handful of fruit to each because they seemed a little light on filling…maybe because I didn’t trim to star shape, so the crust was larger.

This is not my first post. I’m the one who lives full time in an RV. Your recipes are always the best. Made the “red galette” with strawberries and one cut up peach. Since I don’t like to make pie crust, I used a store bought crust, covered the bottom with plain yougart and a teaspoon of almond extract. Delicious! Also made your mediterranean pepper salad this week. Will be making this salad again for a pot luck.
From your cookbook I made your peach and sour cream pancakes (not the first time for these). I doubled the batter using 8 oz. of sour cream,5 oz. of plain yougart and some milk. Delicious, my husband really loved them! Thanks again for all your hard work.

This galette recipe was wonderful. I was going to make a blueberry pie for my indoor picnic on the 4th, but when I saw your recipe, I knew it would be far easier. I could not make the star shape, but a lopsided circle worked — and then I put fresh raspberries around the sides. Everyone loved it! Thank you for such great recipes!

Now I’m really feeling ashamed – my efforts in folding anything around fruit always ends looking more like a pancake smeared with fruit – still yum though. As ever you’ve inspired me to run the gauntlet of my husbands comments and have a go at this. There’s always therapy if it goes horribly wrong again… Thanks for sharing what looks like another divine fruity treat.

Hey Deb, I made your Zucchini and Ricotta Galette (which I can not pronounce)and it was the best thing I have ever had or dang close to it.
Is there a way to incorporate your Galette dough and make “pizza’.
Thank you for your most wonderful, creative recipes.

I grew up with my mother making something similar to this as it’s a typically northern English style dessert that uses ‘leftovers’ ie: fruit, jam, jellies, sweet treats etc. that you can just shove into some also leftover pastry.

They’re a great way to use up what’s in the house and always look amazing and taste even better. Gorgeous photos, btw :)

Nikki — You couldn’t slide a spatula around underneath the galette? I guess if you let it cool in the pan, any spills “set” and stick more to the parchment paper. I usually move it when it’s still warm. It might have been helpful to know that, huh?

Deb! Thank you for helping me find a wonderfully tasty way to use up all my cherries and blueberries! And your posts always make me smile :-) I was wondering how long you think this will keep in the fridge? Also would it freeze well? Thanks!

Well this post just inspired me to make my first ever pasty/pie/galette dough, so thank you for that! I used sour cream instead of ricotta, and the dough seemed too wet. I chilled the dough for about 3 hours, and after about 5 seconds of it being out the fridge it got extremely sticky and started to stick to the rolling pin and break apart. It also stuck to my floured work surface. I barely got it on the baking sheet in one piece! What causes this? Did I not incorporate the butter enough? Did it need to rest in the fridge overnight? Maybe my kitchen was too hot (this is July in Washington DC after all… oh and I have no A/C in my kitchen). Anyway, the galette leaked all over the place (thank you parchment for saving my baking pans) but I have to tell you that despite everything, it tasted DELICIOUS. I used one cup blueberries and 2 chopped up peaches for the filling, plus a pinch of cinnamon. It was so, so good. Good enough to make another dough attempt, but with less liquid on a day that’s not so hot and humid.

Used a smaller amount of sugar and didn’t spoon much on top — the blueberries were tart, and it didn’t come out very sweet at all. This was ok, it just meant it was less “sumptuous dessert food” and more “I totally would not be embarrassed to eat this for breakfast.” I was glad it wasn’t too sweet, because it was a very dessert-heavy picnic.

I made this over the 4th and I can not stop thinking about the crust. It is to me the perfect flavor and texture! I am about to make your peach pie. I know you go into great detail about leaving a peach pie alone, but I must use this recipe for my pie crust. Not to worry though! I am going to leave the filling just the way you wrote it. :-) Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! xo

I made these for the 4th. Raspberry/Strawberry and Blue Berry Cherry. Used sour cream. Deb, I really think this is the best crust I’ve had and I love how casual it looks. Just took one out of the oven that I used whole wheat white flour with nectarines and blueberries.(But I committed the cardinal sin of using the food processor; bad tendonitis!) I can’t wait to try a savory with the tomatoes in the garden. Thanks so much.

Been making these all summer! First two were strawberry/raspberry and these last two were blueberry/nectarine. I am toying with the idea of Italian plums? I suspect just about any fruit will work, though I’m not sure about the huge cantaloupe my husband bought…

I used frozen berries in the first two without a problem.

My dough seems to be dry – to the point of not mixing – and I have to add water. Idk if I am doing something wrong or I am just expecting something I ought not be expecting?

Also wondering how to avoid having cornstarch on the top of the fruit that is seen in the middle. They come out beautifully and that little bit of white on the fruit just seems a shame!

I have to say, I have been at least doubling the fruit! Hopefully this justifies my belief that this is absolutely a valid breakfast! If you feel bad about the sugar, cut it back some. It doesn’t seem to ruin it!

Just made this with blueberries and apples. The main galette took much longer than I expected – almost an hour total. But I made some minis as well with leftover crust and filling, and those were perfect at 30 minutes. Wonderful recipe!

I made this today with strawberries and it’s so pretty! I cut out the pentagon for the star shape, and used the leftover dough scraps to make rustic stars about 3″ across that i baked separately and garnished the side of the cutout area of finished tart with.

we bought a house that has not one but two sour cherry trees, so I was picking them yesterday and today, and the tree is still completely covered with them. Made this galette with the cherries, the dough was sublime. I think I will leave out the lemon juice next time though, as the filling was a bit too wet. Trying the sour cherry compote next. And if you can provide a suggestion on how to modify the blackberry yogurt popsicle for sour cherries, I will be so grateful!

Does anyone know how long these might last? We are making a trip to a cabin on the fourth and am hoping to make these tomorrow (the night before)! I don’t want the crust to get soggy or anything. Any thoughts?

I made this for a family gathering today. It was a big hit. We are going to friends tonight and I am making one more. At my husbands request I am adding a layer of cream cheese which I will mix with powdered sugar to the galette. He would eat cream cheese at every meal if possible. Thanks!

Holy smokes, Deb! You aren’t messing around with this galette! It is absolute perfection! That crust….it’s rich and thick and crunchy yet chewy and everything you long for in a pie but didnt dare to hope for. Thank you! Thank you!